For The Love Of The Med-jai

                                                                                    Chapter 7

“Is all of this really as bad as it sounds?” I asked him.
He looked at me curiously. “I would have thought you would have known that by now,” he said quietly, leaning against the chair that the curator had recently vacated.
“I’m a child, remember? I need guidance.” I smiled and bent my head a little as I waited for his answer.
“If we do not stop this creature, he will destroy the world with his power. That is how bad it is.”
I nodded, my eyes downcast. “So this is your job, right? To save the world?”
“I am a Med-Jai, a descendant of pharaoh’s bodyguards. It is my duty to protect what is left of the pharaoh’s reign. But now I have failed.”
I looked at him guiltily. It was my sister who had gotten us all into this. “I’m sorry. But you haven’t failed yet, have you? You can still stop the creature?”
He smiled. “Just like a child, trying to fix everything. No, I have not failed yet, little one, but it will not be easy to stop the creature.”
When Ardeth called me “little one,” I didn’t know what to think. I had discovered that I loved this man, and he was practically treating me like a daughter. I was trying to come up with a response when Rick and Jonathan showed up with Evelyn, Daniels and the curator. “The Egyptologist and the other American are dead,” Rick stated. “C’mon.”
Ardeth motioned for me to go and that he would follow. I don’t know what sort of message my eyes sent to him, and I’m not sure that I’d want to know even now. It would probably just prove to me how embarrassing my situation had really been.
I started to follow Daniels when I felt him grab my arm. I turned to him, afraid of what he might do all of a sudden.
“Stay close to me, little one,” he said. “I will protect you.”
Part of me rejoiced when he said that. But the other part of me was saddened, because I knew that he still thought of me as a child.

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                                                                                        Chapter 8

He had told me to stay close to him, and you wouldn’t believe how close I was as we traveled up through the basement of the museum to find the tablet that my sister was looking for.
Evelyn had reasoned that if the Book of the Dead had been in the place where the Bembridge Scholars had claimed that the Book of Amun-Ra was, then the Book of Amun-Ra must be where they had placed the Book of the Dead. The problem was that she didn’t know where that was. So we had to find out.
Of course, this was the part where Imhotep chose to make the entire population of Cairo his slaves.
I clutched Ardeth’s arm as we moved up the stairs of the museum, and he reached back to take my hand in his, squeezing comfortingly. I was happy, but I knew that it wasn’t exactly the type of gesture I had been hoping for.
After quickly deciphering the hieroglyphics on the tablet, we raced out to the car. Even that did us no real good. We were trapped by the hordes of people now loyal to Imhotep.
Rick gunned the car and we plowed through the group of people. I’m sure that it would have been quite a sight to see from the outside of the vehicle, seven people lashing out at the mindless zombies crawling all over the city. We eventually lost Daniels to the horde and became trapped in a corner of Cairo.

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                                                                                         Chapter 9

I had thought that things were bad before. Well, before was nothing compared to now. We were cornered by Imhotep’s horde, and all we could do was wave a torch at them. We couldn’t have killed all of them if we’d tried, and besides, we didn’t really want to do that anyway.
Oh yeah. Then it got worse.
A fully regenerated Imhotep was making his way towards us through the crowd. I grabbed Ardeth’s arm in fear, and he pushed me behind him. I poked my head out from behind his massive frame in order to see what was going on.
He was speaking in Ancient Egyptian, and O’Connell’s friend Beni was translating. He was translating wrong, of course. Evelyn and I both caught that “for all eternity” mistake. We are quite alike in some ways, and our pet peeve is incorrect Egyptian.
Then came the kicker. He wanted my sister Evy so that they could go back to Hamunaptra. At this point, I knew that Rick was falling in love with my sister, so this did not make him happy one bit.
Jonathan was too scared to move, and he was busy dealing with Beni, who was trying to steal the key, to retaliate against Imhotep. But Ardeth had to hold Rick and me back as we fought to save Evy.
“Don’t! He still has to take me to Hamunaptra to perform the ritual,” Evelyn pleaded with us. The only reason she was doing this was because Imhotep had promised that we wouldn’t be hurt if she went willingly.
Never believe the bad guy when he says he’ll spare your life if he gets what he wants. As soon as Evelyn was safely out of our reach, he ordered the crowd to kill us.
“What are we going to do?” I demanded of no one in particular. Rick silently answered my question by pulling the lid off of the sewer entrance between his feet. He pulled my brother in and then grabbed Ardeth, whose eyes had been fixed on the curator.
The curator was valiantly fighting off the crowd, but he was fighting a losing battle. It seemed that my dear husband was torn between letting him die and dying himself.
Ardeth has a hard time letting people sacrifice themselves, even when they obviously want it that way, like the curator did. He has some of the best morals around, and I love him to death for it, even though it’s practically killed him a few times.
Rick solved the problem by pulling Ardeth down into the sewer hatch and then feeding me down into his arms. Our eyes met as I wrapped my arms around his neck to steady myself on the way down. I was about to put my feet on the ground when he stopped me.
“I’ll need you to look out for them over my shoulder. Stay where you are, little one.”
So that’s how I ended up being carried through the sewer by the love of my life. It’s not exactly romantic, nothing that would make you swoon or anything like that, but I must tell you that I immensely enjoyed the attention.
It just goes to show that my husband may be a battle-hardened warrior, but he still has more compassion in him than anyone I’ve ever met.

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                                                                                        Chapter 10

After barely escaping Cairo alive, we made our way to the Air Force base in the desert, where O’Connell told us that there would be a plane waiting to take us back to Hamunaptra. I sat in the car, next to Ardeth, no less, wondering how the hell we were going to fit four of us on a plane.
As soon as I found out, I decided that I would have been better off not knowing.
O’Connell would man the gun on the plane while Winston Havlock, our pilot, flew the plane. To balance the weight, Ardeth would be tied to one wing and Jonathan and I would be tied to the other.
This was not the best trip of my life. I don’t like flying in the first place, a sentiment that Ardeth and I share, which is good. We live in the desert with bedouins. We don't see much civilization.
But I had to help save my sister. And Ardeth was going, so I might as well. He had tried to convince me not to go, and when I hadn’t agreed, he had tried to get Jonathan and Rick to make me stay somewhere, but in truth, they hadn’t really cared. They were more concerned about Evy than me.
I remember the look on his face as he sighed and relented. He was very concerned about me. I still couldn’t decide whether that was because it was his job to protect people from the creature or because he cared about me. To tell you the truth, I don’t know to this day what he was thinking at that moment. He’s never told me.
So we got strapped onto the plane and took off. This was the worst part of the entire adventure, if you ask me. I hated it immensely.
We got to the desert and were flying towards Hamunaptra when the biggest damn wall of sand you’ll ever see rose up behind us and started to pursue us. It was our dear friend Imhotep who was orchestrating this little trick, and he so nicely let us know that by adding his face in as a stunning visual effect.
Rick shot at it a little. It’s sand, like shooting it would have done anything! Meanwhile, Winston was performing some aerial stunts that honestly made my stomach turn. Up, down, all around… We were all over the place, and I was ready to lose my lunch.
Fortunately, at that point, the sandstorm stopped. And then the plane caught on fire and crashed into a sand dune.
So there I was, shoved up against my brother, hanging upside down on a plane wing. I was also stuck. I twisted around to see Ardeth climb off of his side of the plane (the two sides were now quite separated), obviously disoriented. He took off his flight cap and his hair fanned out over his head. I remember smiling a little at that.
That was when my brother Jonathan yelled for help, therefore drawing attention to myself. Ardeth looked a bit alarmed, and he came and gently plucked me down from the plane, holding me in his arms and looking into my eyes with a gentle expression on his face.
This was the first time I think I realized that Ardeth loved me. He probably felt incredibly guilty with himself for falling in love with a child, but I wasn’t a child anymore when we got married, so good riddance to that.
When he spoke to me, his voice was a few octaves lower than normal. I think a shiver ran up my spine at that, and I hope that he didn’t feel it.
It surprises me telling this that Ardeth and I have never discussed these things. I guess that they seem trivial now that we’re married. Anticlimactic details, so to speak.
“Are you all right, little one?” he asked, and I had to put my arms around his neck to steady myself.
“Yes, Ardeth, I’m fine,” I whispered, staring straight into his eyes. I don’t think he even blinked as he stared back.
“That is good, little one. I promised that I would protect you, and I do not plan to go back on my word.”
Rick had untied Jonathan from the plane wing and they were waiting for us. I saw the gun from the plane lying on the ground next to them, and realized that Ardeth must have lifted it off with his bare hands. I became intensely aware of the muscles in his arms as he lifted me over to where the gun was and sat me down gently.
The whole moment was ruined by the plane sinking into the ground. Turns out that it had hit a patch of quicksand. Ardeth pulled me away while yelling a warning to the others, and Rick saluted as the plane sank. It was thanks to Winston that we’d gotten there, and he died out in that desert. But that was what he’d wanted, to die a pilot’s death. I hung my head as the plane disappeared from sight.
Rick glanced at the rest of us. “C’mon. We don’t have much time to find Evelyn.”
I nodded and lifted my head to glance up at the now familiar sight of Hamunaptra. Ardeth slung the gun over his shoulder and we set off across the desert sands.

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                                                                                  Chapter 11

We were ready to enter Hamunaptra a few moments later. We paused for a minute outside the door, and Ardeth set his weapon down and rubbed his shoulder where it had been resting.
I noticed this and looked at him. I steeled up my nerve and walked over to him. I pulled a cord off of his robe and tied it to the ends of the gun, and then I used all my strength to lift the cord up over his shoulder and place the gun back in his hands. He watched all of this in silence, gazing at me with those smoldering eyes of his.
(I’m getting weak in the knees just thinking about it.)
“There. That should help,” I said softly. He reached out his free hand and ruffled my loose, curly hair.
“Thank you, little one,” he whispered. I think I blushed.
We made our way into Hamunaptra.

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                                                                                   Chapter 12

We found our passage into the city blocked by a cave-in. That meant that we had to move the rocks. Oh, what a job to look forward to.
Ardeth was surprised when I rolled up my sleeves and dug in with him and Rick. Jonathan took it upon himself to be an overseer, instructing us on how to work, but a stern look from Ardeth and Rick shut him up. We continued to tumble stones down the pile as Jonathan looked around.
That was when the scarab attacked my brother. It crawled up his hand and was traveling up his arm. Ardeth grabbed him and Rick performed some quick surgery and the thing was squirming on the floor.
I grabbed one of Rick’s handguns and aimed at the creature. I shot it and it exploded.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. You can’t shoot a person, but you can shoot a bug? Go figure. Lucky shot, I guess.
I gave Rick his gun back and grabbed my brother’s arm, which Ardeth was bandaging with his ripped robes. “Be more careful next time,” I hissed. He pulled his arm away and I turned back to the pile of rubble.
I could feel Ardeth’s eyes watching me from behind, but he didn’t say anything as we continued our work. Soon we broke through into a large chamber hidden underneath the city.

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                                                                                  Chapter 13

It was dark when we entered the treasure room (I say treasure room because, well… you’ll find out in a minute), but Rick spotted one of those ancient mirrors that we had rigged up the first time we had been there and knocked it into place with a handy bullet. The room was flooded in light, and I grabbed Ardeth’s arm in surprise as I laid eyes on Egypt’s wealth.
Gold as far as the eye could see. Just gold. Statues and coins and urns and even chariots. The greatest find in all of Egyptian history. It would have been a cataloger’s dream. But we had to find the statue of Horus and get the Book of Amun-Ra in order to save my sister.
We were making our way through the mounds of treasure when I heard a squealing noise and the floor began breaking around us, mummies crawling up through the ragged holes to attack us.
This was the point where I realized that I was defenseless. Not that my normal aim was any good anyway.
“Who are these guys?” Rick asked. (For the record, he had been quite responsive during all previously mentioned events, but I’ve been focusing on myself and on my husband. That’s the part that I’m hoping you care about.)
“Priests,” Ardeth said. “Imhotep’s priests.” He prepared to shoot.
“Okay then,” Rick answered. A barrage of gunfire shattered my ears.
I was trying to stay out of the way of the mummies and the gunfire, but to no avail. One of the mummies grabbed my ankle, and it reached up with it’s other hand, which was conveniently crowned with long, sharp nails. It slashed a long net of cuts in my left leg, and I cried out in pain as Ardeth turned and blew the thing to bits.
I felt him lift me into his free arm, and I clutched him, trying to ignore the blood running in rivulets down my leg. He yelled to the others. “Come on!” he said, pulling me with him and out of the treasure chamber.
We conveniently ran right into the statue of Horus as we rounded a corner. Ardeth sat me down on the edge of the statue and ran around to help Rick as the mummies pursued us. Rick closed the door with a stick of dynamite and Ardeth put his weapon down, coming over to me.
He lifted my skirt up a little and looked at my very ugly wound. “I am sorry, little one,” he whispered, moving to rip more of the cloth off of his robes to bandage it.
I took off my robe and handed it to him. “Use this,” I said softly, tears spilling down my cheeks.
He took it in his hand and wiped my tears away, pressing his full lips to my forehead. “This is yours, little one,” he mumbled. “Now let me bandage this for you.”
He lay what I’d given him aside and proceeded to roughly bandage my leg. I bit my lip and winced as he finished.
I heard clamoring in the passageway behind us. Jonathan and Rick were frantically trying to find the book, and Ardeth stood and grabbed Rick’s shotgun, loading it. “Keep digging,” he said.
“Ardeth!” I shouted, standing up and using the statue to support myself. He looked at me questioningly.
It was plain to see that he was going to sacrifice himself for us. I shook my head vehemently. “Don’t,” was all that I said.
“It is my duty, little one. You will be all right without me.”
I shook my head adamantly again. “No, Ardeth, please don’t! I’m…” I looked at him to see if I could discern what he was thinking, and my voice dropped a level. “I’m lost without you,” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes again.
He smiled at me. “You are not lost without me, little one. You are much stronger than anyone could have ever seen. You hid that strength even from me. Now go find your sister and get her out of here.”
He turned to go and my heart wrenched in my chest. Ardeth turned and looked at me, smiling. He looked at Rick and Jonathan. “Save the girl. Kill the creature!” He gave a war cry and charged into the group of mummies. I found myself screaming his name as Rick and Jonathan carried me through the hole they had just recently blown in the wall.

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                                                                                        Chapter 14

I was actually pretty useful once we found my sister. I think that I was mad about Ardeth running away from me like that, and so I didn’t really care about what happened to me anymore.
When we arrived (with the book in tow), Imhotep was about to sacrifice Evelyn. Jonathan distracted them long enough for Imhotep to call up more mummies and for Rick to jump in and fight them.
I’d been standing on the stairs this whole time, and when I saw that Rick was in big trouble, I decided to help him out. Ropes decorated this chamber, and I grabbed one and swung down into the mummies, taking out two on my way before I hit one holding a large stone slab. It fell over, the slab on top of it, as I rolled onto the ground.
I looked up at Rick, who had just freed my sister. I could tell that Evelyn was proud of me. “Thanks,” Rick said. I smiled.
“No problem.” I heard Jonathan recite something off of the front of the book (we needed the key in Imhotep’s robes to get the incantation to kill him) and a volley of soldier mummies exited.
“Oh shit,” Rick said, at the same time as Anck-Su-Namun’s mummy attacked my sister. I ducked behind the slab that my sister had been lying on instinctively, desperately thinking of a way to get the key from Imhotep.
My sister was fighting Anck-Su-Namun. Jonathan was running around trying to complete the incantation on the cover of the book, and soldier mummies were beating up Rick. I decided to get Imhotep’s attention.
But before I could do that, Jonathan grabbed me. “Read it!” he said frantically, shoving the book in my face. I nodded, following the incantation down.
“Rashi moulo kashka tochim amelophous!” I screamed. The soldier mummies stopped and Imhotep looked at me. I shoved the book back at Jonathan after reading an incantation that would allow my brother to control them, as well as myself. “Command them,” I whispered, jumping over the slab and standing bravely as Imhotep came towards me.
He grabbed me by the throat and I reached for the key inside his robes. My fingers closed around it as Rick chopped the mummy’s arm off and he let me go.
The soldier mummies had destroyed Anck-Su-Namun by now, and when Imhotep let me go I ran for Jonathan, Evy, and the book. I opened it and Evy looked for the incantation. When she found it, she recited it and there was a blinding flash of blue light.
I watched in fascination as a ghostly chariot from another world raced through Imhotep. He screamed after it, and then turned to us. He walked menacingly towards Rick, and Rick shoved the sword he was holding through Imhotep’s stomach.
Blood poured from the wound. The incantation had made him mortal. He fell into the pool of bones and black water and left us with a warning: “Death is only the beginning.”

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                                                                                           Chapter 15

So we thought we were pretty much okay by now, right? Well, we were very wrong (again). I barely had time to think of Ardeth as the city started to collapse around us.
Yes, that’s right. Hamunaptra was rumored to be able to disappear into the sands at the flick of a switch. Well, I guess somebody flicked the switch.
So we ran through the chamber where Imhotep had tried to resurrect his lover. During all of this, Jonathan dropped the book. Evy went back for it. We dragged her away.
Then we ran through the treasure chamber. Jonathan wanted to take the treasure. We dragged him away.
We crawled through a passage that was quickly narrower as the ceiling fell in. We just made it through the open door.
O’Connell’s friend Beni, who had been in the tomb, wasn’t so lucky. We bid him a quick farewell and raced into the upper levels of the city. The very sand was disappearing under our feet.
I shrieked as columns began to topple around me and my leg really started to hurt. It hurt so much to the point that I knew it was going to give out on me.
That was when I felt someone scoop me up into their arms and race me away from the city.
Whoever it was, I didn’t care. I clutched their shoulders until my knuckles turned white and buried my face in their half-exposed chest.
It was only when we reached safety that I looked up and realized that it was Ardeth.
“Ardeth!” I cried, flinging my arms around him. He gladly returned the embrace, and I buried my nose in his thick, sweet-smelling hair. “I thought you had died,” I whispered, looking into his dark eyes.
“And I thought you were going to die, little one. You are very brave.”
I blushed. “Don’t say that. You were right about me. I need guidance and care. I'm not cut out for this stuff.”
“Oh, but you are. And I think that we will see each other again.” He picked me up in his arms and slid off of the horse he was riding, placing my feet lightly on the sand. I was completely unaware of any of my surroundings.
“You mean you’re leaving?” I asked sadly. He nodded.
“It is not time for you to come with me, little one. But someday we will meet again and you will be a woman, and then everything will change.”
I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but I couldn’t say the words. Like I said, it took me 10 years.
He put a finger to my lips to silence my attempts, and then he pressed his lips to mine in a deep kiss that rivaled the ages. My knees went weak and I had to hold onto him for support.
“O’Connell,” he said jovially, “take care of your sister-in-law for me. I’ll be back for her someday.”
My sister and Rick had been making out this whole time. It was kind of obvious by now that I would soon have a brother-in-law.
O’Connell nodded at Ardeth. “Will do, Ardeth. But don’t keep her waiting for too long.”
I looked at him with wide, hungry eyes and he kissed me once more. “One day you will come to my tribe,” he whispered, “and my people will be happy to have you there.”
The ramifications of those kisses and of those words never fully hit me until 10 years later, when I did see him again. All I know is that he left me that day, and I was a very sad, yet very happy, little girl.

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                                                                                  Chapter 16

It would be 10 years until I saw him again, and now that I look back on it, I wonder how I ever made it through. I grew into a young woman in those 10 years, working at the museum and going on digs with my sister and her family.
I say my sister and her family. That’s because she and Rick had a son about a year after we had first raised Imhotep from the dead.
I say first because it was going to happen again. But hold your horses for a minute while I talk here.
I realized a lot of things about myself in those 10 years, and I think about people in general as well. I thought a lot about the things that my husband had said to me that day we had parted at Hamunaptra, and about everything he had said before that.
I had tried to deny the fact that I was still a child for a long time. He had shown me that I was indeed a child, an afraid one who needed guidance, love and care that I soon discovered that only he could give me. There was an empty place inside of me for those 10 years, an empty place where he belonged.
I think that people always need someone, even people like Ardeth. My husband is the strongest man emotionally and physically that I’ve ever met and probably will ever meet, but I know that if you ever took his wife or his children away, he would be empty just like I was when he left me.
Part of him feels empty right now, searching for his children, hoping for them to still be alive. My heart aches, not just because they’re gone, but also because I have to watch his desperate searching for them. It hurts to see him like that.
I panicked when I saw that they were gone, you know. I’m usually pretty rational, but I went insane when I found that my babies were missing. He promised that he would get them back unharmed, and I don’t know what’s going to happen if he can’t keep that promise.
Ardeth is big on keeping promises. Even the ones he knows that he can’t keep, at least by any intervention of his.
We’re just going to have to wait this one out. Like I waited for 10 years just to see his face again…

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                                                                                    Chapter 17

Our second adventure started with an excavation. I was cataloging items from an ancient temple that Evelyn and Rick were working in, and trying to watch their very hyper 8-year-old son Alex while doing it.
I wasn’t doing a very good job. The next time I looked up from my work Alex was gone. He had apparently gone down into the temple to talk to his dad, because he returned a few moments later and started working diligently on something.
I shrugged and continued cataloging. Most of the stuff I was working with was very boring, old broken pieces of pottery and vases. But I labeled everything just like Evelyn wanted me to and placed it all in a neat pile on the other side of the temple.
I stopped abruptly, however, when I heard voices. Voices coming from the outside of the temple. Voices that I didn’t know.
I looked around for Alex, but he was gone again. I just hoped that he was all right. God knows what my sister and brother-in-law would do to me if anything happened to their son.
When I turned back around, I was met by a very large, intimidating man (not as large and intimidating as my husband, but he was sure damn close). He grabbed my throat and lifted me off of the ground.
I can tell you exactly what I was thinking at that moment. I was thinking that if Ardeth ever wanted to come back for me, now would be a very good time.
“Where is the bracelet?” the man hissed.
Time out. Let’s talk about this bracelet, shall we?
The bracelet they’re looking for is the fabled bracelet of Anubis. It is rumored that years ago when the Scorpion King, a great warrior, led his armies across the land defeating the armies of the cities of Egypt, he was defeated. He made a pact with Anubis to save his life, and gleaned the bracelet of Anubis from this pact. He wore it on his wrist in order to control Anubis’ army of dog-headed warriors, and once he had defeated Egypt, Anubis took his soul back to the underworld so he could serve him forever. If the Scorpion King is awakened, whoever defeats him gains control of Anubis’ army. So the question of why they would want it is pretty self-explanatory.
Time in!
“What bracelet?” I asked. First of all, I had no idea what they were talking about. Second of all, I didn’t know where the bracelet was (at least, not yet).
“You know what I am talking about, Evelyn O’Connell!” he hissed.
Yeah, that’s right, he thought I was my sister. Before I had a chance to tell him that, Alex came to the rescue. He started pelting the guy’s partner with rocks from his slingshot.
Therefore, he dropped me in order to find out what was going on. I was trying to think of a way to save Alex when everything started happening at once.
Alex shot another rock, but this time, Mr. Large and Intimidating caught it and crushed it with his bare hand. He started to climb up the ladder towards Alex when their leader called to them to get the hell out. He slashed the supports of the structure Alex was on and left us for dead. What happened was remarkably like what my sister had done to the library 10 years ago.
Alex hit the first Egyptian pillar with a thud, and it toppled into the next one, which toppled into the next one, and so on and so forth until the last one fell over and knocked a gigantic hole in the wall.
Out of this hole came my sister and her husband and a lot of water, along with a chest (which contained the bracelet of Anubis) and a disk representing the Scorpion King.
I looked around at the devastation and then down at my sister. Alex came over and stood halfway behind me, as if I could protect him from his parents or something.
“I can explain everything,” he had said sheepishly.

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                                                                                  Chapter 18

Not much needed explaining, so we took the artifacts back to London and prepared for a long rest. Well, the rest of us did. My sister thought otherwise.
She wanted to go find the oasis of Ahm-Shere, where the Scorpion King was said to be buried. Rick spent a while trying to convince her otherwise, and he was on the verge of winning when all hell broke loose (again).
First, Alex put on the bracelet (which we didn’t find out until later). He says that he saw a sweeping panoramic view of Egypt that led him to the temples at Karnak. Then, Jonathan brought some woman home and was attacked by Meela’s men.
Time out again. Meela is the reincarnation of Anck-Su-Namun, Imhotep’s lost lover. Her soul is still in the underworld and will be brought back to her later.
Time in.
That was when Imhotep’s men (mean buggers dressed in red robes) came to get the bracelet. Alex had closed the box it was in and was ready to give it up to them when his mother refused to let it go. So we all got into a big fight.
I wasn’t so helpless anymore. I had learned how to fight, but my total lack of weapons made it hard to fend off four Arabs with scimitars. Which is why I am very glad that Ardeth chose this moment to come back for me.
I’d managed to kick one of the Arabs in the stomach, but then he’d slashed me across the arm, rendering that limb useless. I was pretty much useless to do anything to the others, so I raised my arms over my head and waited for them to kill me.
I was surprised when a hand grabbed me a few minutes later and gently pushed my arms down from my face.
“Hello, little one,” Ardeth Bay said, smiling brilliantly at me as I looked at the dead men at my feet.
“Ardeth!” I cried, throwing my arms around him joyfully. “You came!”
He hugged me tightly with his free arm and smiled, his hair tickling my face. “I told you that I would come back when you were a woman, little one. I find that you have more than fulfilled that requirement by now.”
I blushed furiously as he reached into his belt and handed me a scimitar. “Later, little one. Take this and defend yourself.”
We were parted for a few moments as we each did battle. I managed to kill two more of the men before they abruptly vacated the premises.
They vacated because they now had the chest and my sister.
Rick was going to love this.
Ardeth and I ran out of the house and came upon lots of gunfire. I wheeled around as he grabbed me and threw himself behind a statue that stood in the middle of the garden at the front of the house. I was pressed up against him tightly, and I froze momentarily as he looked into my eyes.
Rick had given chase to the cars, but on foot it was useless. Now he joined us at the pillar.
Ardeth had just leaned in to kiss me when Rick grabbed him and shoved him up against the pillar. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, his eyes angry over Evy’s kidnapping.
“Rick!” I admonished. “Don’t! It’s not his fault that Evelyn was kidnapped.”
Rick batted me away, hitting the injured part of my arm. I cried out softly and cupped the wound in my other hand. Ardeth glared at Rick.
“I am sorry about your wife, friend, but do not take it out on her sister.”
Rick ignored him. “Where the hell did they take Evy?” he roared.
“I am not sure, my friend, but wherever this man is, your wife will be.” He held out a picture. Alex recognized the man immediately.
“That’s the curator of the British Museum!” he said, looking up at his father in surprise.
Ardeth frowned at the boy. “You’re sure?” he asked, glancing my way, his eyes darkening as he looked me over.
I touched Ardeth’s arm, glad for the warm contact of his body. “You better believe him. My nephew spends more time at the museum than at home.” Somewhere in the middle of all this, my brother had showed up and was listening as well.
Ardeth smiled as we followed Rick over to the car. As we stopped, he tugged on my arm gently in order to get a good look at my wound. He tore off a bit of his robes and proceeded to wrap it efficiently.
I turned to him when he was done. “Thank you,” I whispered, looking into his eyes once more.
His nose brushed up against mine. “You are welcome, little one.” I smiled at the endearment that no longer angered me. God, I was desperately in love with this man.
(And that hasn’t changed!)
He leaned in and our lips finally met in a searing kiss. I opened my mouth for him, and he slid his tongue past my lips, tasting me.
That’s when we realized that everyone was watching us. Alex and Jonathan looked disgusted, and Rick looked impatient.
Ardeth tore himself away from me, but I quickly stepped forward and nestled myself in his arms, my head tucked under his chin. My husband is a good 10 inches taller than I am. He smiled softly, stroking my hair as he turned to Rick.
“I am sorry for the interruption. I think you know how I feel.” Rick nodded his understanding, calming down just a little bit. “Let me explain what is going on.”
Ardeth told us a lot of things that I’ve already told you, so I’ll just add the rest of the details in for you. The Arab buggers wanted the bracelet so that they can raise Imhotep from the dead and allow him to defeat the Scorpion King so they can rule the world. The curator is their leader. And my sister? Just another human sacrifice.
“Now that they have the bracelet, it is only a matter of time. We must find them as soon as possible.”
Alex smiled sheepishly. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that bracelet part,” he said. He pulled up his jacket sleeve to reveal the bracelet.
That was when Ardeth pushed me away completely to look at the boy’s wrist. “You have started a chain reaction that may lead us to the next apocalypse!” he gasped. I grabbed his shoulders and laid my forehead on his muscled back, attempting to calm him down.
(This technique still works to this day, by the way.)
Rick became irate again. “You,” he said, pointing to my husband, “lighten up. You,” he said to Alex, “big trouble.” He looked at Jonathan and I. “You two… Get in the car.”
I obliged, getting into the back with Alex and Jonathan, sitting behind Ardeth. I kept my hand on his shoulder and he reached up to clasp it gratefully as we took off for the museum.

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                                                                                      Chapter 19

“I am sorry if I frightened your son,” Ardeth told Rick, “but you must understand that now we have only seven days before the Scorpion King rises from his grave.”
“Look, I don’t really care about that right now,” Rick said tersely. “Right now I want my wife back.”
“I understand, my friend. You are not the only one with something precious to protect.”
I was blushing as we pulled into the museum.
I exited the car with Ardeth and Rick, and Rick unveiled all of his weapons, conveniently kept in the backseat of his car. “You can never be too careful,” he said, loading his revolvers and turning to Ardeth. “You want the shotgun?”
He shook his head. “No, I prefer the Thompson.”
“What about me?” I piped up. Rick looked at me skeptically. “Oh come on, Rick!” I said. “You know I can fight, and that’s my sister in there. Let Jonathan and Alex stay with the car and I’ll go with you and Ardeth.”
I think he saw in my eyes that it would have been hard to convince me to go anywhere but where Ardeth was going. So he handed me a pistol and then told the others to stay in the car. Alex protested briefly, but a look from his father shut him up fast.
Ardeth, Rick, and I made our way into the museum cautiously. It was dark and quiet, and my ears strained to pick up any whisper of a noise. All I could hear were Ardeth’s robes swishing around his ankles as he made his way across the floor.
“I can’t hear anything,” I said, rather puzzled.
“That’s okay,” Rick answered. “I think I might know where they are.”
Ardeth and I followed Rick, trying to be as quiet as possible. Rick led us through the hallways of the museum to what was obviously a large storage room, and I sighed in relief as I saw that he had been right on the mark.
The Arabs were there. And so was Imhotep, a lifeless husk in the middle of them. My eyes widened as I glanced at Ardeth. He nodded slowly, and we prepared to fight them.
That was when we realized that we were already too late.
The curator stood before the Book of the Dead, reciting the incantation that would bring Imhotep back to life. My eyes fell on a mysterious woman in the corner who was dressed in black. She looked vaguely familiar somehow.
I watched in horror as the creature was brought back to life. In the chaos that followed, my sister was brought out to him as a placating sacrifice.
I glanced around me and noticed that Rick was already gone. Ardeth put a finger to his lips and I nodded, cocking the gun and waiting for it.
When Rick made his move, Ardeth and I immediately started firing for cover. Several of the Arabs went down, and Imhotep glanced up at us. The malice on his desiccated face was unmistakable. He recognized us.
The gun ran out of bullets so fast that it was pathetic. And Rick hadn’t given me any extra.
“Dammit!” I cursed, ducking down behind the divider as bullets sprayed up at us. I felt Ardeth grab my arm and pull me behind the thicker pillar with him. I once again found myself pressed up against his prone body, and I took advantage of the position to quickly kiss him. He gladly returned the gesture, and we took off through the museum as Evelyn and Rick joined us.
Imhotep was reciting Ancient Egyptian as we turned our backs to run. I glanced over my shoulder and almost stopped in my tracks. The soldier mummies had come back to life.
“Holy shit!” I yelled, grabbing onto Ardeth and sprinting for the door. “Run faster!”
We burst out of the door of the museum only to be met by a double decker bus.

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                                                                                    Chapter 20

“What the hell happened to my car?” Rick asked, looking at his brother-in-law menacingly.
“I was forced to find alternate means of transportation. Just get on!” I pulled Ardeth onto the first floor of the bus while Rick made his way up to the top.
Ardeth shoved me behind him as the bus started moving. “Be careful, little one. You have no means of defense against these creatures.”
“I’ll find a way if I need to,” I whispered, squeezing his shoulders gently. He turned his head to the side slightly so that I could see his smile.
Jonathan turned a corner sharply and I grabbed the bars above me. We heard an inhuman scream and a mummy crashed through the window of the bus towards us. Ardeth shot it until his bullets were expended, leaving half of the mummy to crawl around the upper bars of the bus.
“Left, Jonathan, left!” I heard Evelyn yell at her brother, trying to give Ardeth an advantage in fighting the creature. The mummy grew claws (that brought back memories) and slashed at Ardeth, catching him across the chest and on his arm.
I screamed and launched myself at the creature just as Jonathan turned the bus right. I fell face first onto my husband. His arm instinctively curled around me and I felt the mummy’s claws scratch down my back. I arched up against Ardeth and screamed in pain.
That was when I heard a loud gunshot and the creature flew out the window. The bus came to a stop and I turned to see Evelyn clutching a shotgun in her hands. I shakily stood, only to be turned and pulled into Ardeth’s arms again.
He wanted to check my wound, but I shook my head. “Later,” I whispered. He nodded slowly and leaned towards me. I caught a whiff of him in the close vicinity; he smelled like desert sand, sweat, and musk. His mouth captured mine in a heated kiss, and he clutched me carefully to him, making sure not to touch my injured back or arm while I tried not to press too heavily against his bleeding chest.
I let one of my hands curl up around his neck while the other lay at his waist. He broke the kiss eventually and then looked deeply into my eyes as he lifted my chin with his fingers. “Are you sure you are all right?” he asked.
I looked at him and gently touched the rips in his clothing where the mummy had scraped his chest. “I should be asking you if you’re all right,” I said softly, brushing my cheek up against his. He gently held me close to him, and then I felt him stagger against me.
I steadied him with my arms and then sat him down on one of the bus seats. “Let me look at these,” I said, gently parting the folds of his robe to expose his chest, which now had an angry mosaic of scratches on it from the soldier mummy.
He grabbed my hand and kissed my fingertips. “You first, little one.”
I shook my head. “Not this time. Just be quiet.”
I looked over at Evelyn and Rick, who were equally content in each other’s arms. Alex and Jonathan looked disgusted again.
I leaned forward and kissed along the edges of the flaring wound, and I felt his hand come up to tangle in my hair as his body stiffened.
I heard my brother snort. “And I thought your mom and dad were bad!”
I felt something brush past me and turned to see Alex wandering the length of the bus. I turned my attention back to Ardeth. “As long as we take care of it soon, you’ll be all right,” I said. “You’re just losing some blood.”
“And what about you, little one?” he murmured, turning me around gently. I shivered at the feel of his rough hands against my bare arms, and then I took a deep breath in as he placed his lips on my back, repeating what I had done for him.
I was broken out of my heady reverie by a shrill scream from Alex. My head whipped to the side and I stood up quickly. Alex was being drug out of the bus door by one of the Arabs working for Imhotep!
Ardeth stood and immediately staggered over on me. I put my arms around him to steady him. “Don’t, Ardeth. There’s nothing you can do.”
He sagged against me in defeat as we watched Rick give futile chase through the broken window.

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                                                                                     Chapter 21

Back at the O’Connell residence, Rick and Evelyn were preparing to pursue their son as I bandaged Ardeth’s wounds. He was feeling much better after we had given him something to eat and drink, and was now talking about alerting the Med-Jai to the new threat before meeting up with my sister and her husband in Egypt.
You see, the bracelet of Anubis shows its wearer the way to Ahm-Shere in stages. Alex had told us that he had seen Karnak the first time he put it on, so once he got there, it would show him the next step. Which meant that we would have to get there before they did in order to discover where they were going.
Alex was a smart kid, though. I didn’t put it past him to leave a trail, which he did. We just weren’t fast enough.
After Ardeth had bandaged my wounds, he declared that he was leaving immediately in order to meet the Med-Jai. It would take a day and a half to reach them, and then half of a day to get to Cairo, where he would meet Evelyn, Rick, and Jonathan.
I watched him gather up his possessions and swing his robes back on, and I found myself not wanting him to leave. He smiled at me and cupped my chin in his hand, kissing me deeply. “I will see you soon, little one.”
“Let me go with you,” I whispered, breathing heavily from his kiss. He seemed to ponder that notion for a moment.
“Very well. As long as it is all right with…” He glanced at the rest of my family, but Evelyn shook her head.
“You don’t need our permission, Ardeth. She’s not a baby anymore. She’s 28 years old.”
Ardeth smiled. “I know. Then you are coming with me, little one. I suggest more practical clothes.”
“Hold on, I’ll be right back.” I ran up to my room and pulled something out. It was the old robe he’d given me, but I had refashioned it into a short tunic for desert travel. I slipped it over my head and pulled my hair up on top of my head before donning black boots and rejoining Ardeth.
His eyes widened as he looked at my ensemble. He was obviously pleased. “Let’s go,” I said. “No time to waste.”
He nodded. “You are right. Come now.” He took my arm and we vacated the premises.

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                                                                                    Chapter 22

Within a few hours, we were back in Egypt and on a horse laden with supplies. That’s right, one horse. Ardeth said it would make for less trouble, but I think he just wanted an excuse to be close to me.
Not that I’m complaining.
He lifted me up onto the horse by the waist and slid up behind me, pulling me back closely against him. “It will take a day and a half of travel to get there. We will have to camp in the desert for a night,” he told me.
I looked up at him, my eyes shining. A night alone with him in the desert? Yes, please.
(I’ve noticed my sarcasm disappearing. Maybe it’s because I haven’t found my kids yet and Ardeth is growing more distraught. Maybe it’s because I’m remembering so much of the better half of my life. Because even though we were fighting an ancient mummy, these were some of the best days I’ve ever had.)
“All right,” I’d said softly, looking back into his chocolate-colored eyes. All I saw was undying love. I couldn’t even describe what I was feeling at that moment. I leaned back against him and I noticed him glancing at my legs, which were quite exposed because of the short tunic I wore. His free hand reached around to rest on my bare thigh, and he spurred the horse on with the reins.
We didn’t talk much on that day as we rode through the desert. I was happy to just be with him, pressed up against him on that horse. Our wounds were healing quickly, and the experience was altogether enjoyable.
As soon as night fell, he stopped and swung himself down off of the horse. “Stay there while I put up the tent,” he said, letting his hand brush over my leg before he moved away.
I watch him as he easily pitched the tent. When he was finished, he came and lifted me off of the horse, cradling me in his arms as he did so. He gave me a long, soulful kiss. We were finally alone.
“Ardeth,” I remember whispering, “please…”
“Yes, little one, my love,” he had replied, carrying me inside. We didn’t eat anything or even build a fire that night. The only fire we needed was the desire that burned between the two of us.
(Okay, that was sort of corny, but it was true.)
I have to be honest. I was really nervous. I’d never touched a man before him, and I was sure that he had touched a few women before. My husband is a proverbial knockout, and I was positive that he was no stranger to what we were about to do.
You know how it goes when you try to hide something from the one person who knows you the best. You don’t succeed. Well, Ardeth knew immediately that something was wrong.
“What is it, little one?” he asked softly, sitting back on his haunches in order to gaze into my eyes.
I faltered with my reply a little bit. “I…” He just continued to stare at me, never looking away and never blinking. I swallowed and took a deep breath. “I’ve just never done this before.”
“Would you like to wait, little one? I would never take something from a woman that she was not willing to give.”
I shook my head. “It’s not that I’m not willing to give it, Ardeth, it’s just that… I don’t think that I know how.”
He folded his legs underneath him and watched me adoringly. “If you have any questions of me, little one, any questions at all, please ask me.”
Now, I had been feeling guilty about this for a while. I did have a few questions for him, but they were pretty serious and I hadn’t wanted to throw them in his face. Now that he was giving me the opportunity, I had butterflies in my stomach and my face turned red.
“Do not be afraid, little one,” he said to me. I nodded slowly and looked at him.
“Have you ever been married?” I asked. The look in his eyes didn’t change, and he nodded his head.
“I was married when I was 17. It was an arranged marriage set up by my father, since I am the leader of the Med-Jai and am expected to produce many heirs. But she died. We both knew that we could have never loved each other, for she was in love with someone else and I was not ready to bear such a responsibility.”
He had given me more information than he had needed to, and we both knew it. I tilted my head and looked at him. “So you never had any children?”
He shook his head. “No, I did not. For the past 10 years, the elders have been pressing me to take a bride and begin having a family of my own. I told them to wait, for someday the girl I promised myself to would become a woman, and then she would be my wife.”
I forgot anything else that I might have had to ask him that night, and I haven’t remembered any of my other questions since. I think I began crying, because he leaned over to me and kissed the tracks of tears on my face and whispered, “I love you, Sarah. You will come back to my village and be my wife.”
I nodded tearfully as he caught my lips, realizing that that was the first time he had ever said my name. “Yes, I will,” I answered. He pulled me close to him.
“I will be gentle,” he soothed. “Just remember that it will hurt a little at first.”
For the rest of the night, we made love. The first time it was a little rocky. I’d never felt pain quite like that before in my life. I’ve felt pain like that since, but it was a frightening experience on that night, and he did his best to make it all right for me.
(I’m not quite sure why I’m giving you all the intimate details. Perhaps it’s because I feel that is as much a part of the story as everything else. To understand us now, you have to understand us then.)
(Just so you know, this is the only thing keeping me going right now. I’m having a hard time watching my husband fall apart.)
It wasn’t until about the third try that we finally got it together. We had been lying together for a few minutes when I’d turned to him and said, “I think I’m ready to try again.” He had obliged and gently rolled over onto me.
His hands wandered all over my body, now naked and covered with a sheen of sweat. He touched my back, my shoulders, my arms, and my breasts while his mouth made love to mine. He kissed my neck and my cheeks, letting his hands wander up to tangle in my hair. I let my hands glide over his back and his legs, marveling in the strength that was in his body.
When he made to enter me again, I placed my hands flat on his chest and arched my body up into his. He growled (he loves to do that) and took my mouth at the same time that he took my body, using his hands to guide the movements of my hips.
It wasn’t long before we were both panting in release, and I fell back onto the soft blankets as he collapsed on top of me. “That’s what it’s supposed to feel like,” he said exhaustedly, obviously satisfied.
I put my arms around his neck and laid my head on his chest as he rolled over onto his back to go to sleep. “I think you’re right,” I whispered, my eyes closing in contentment as he wrapped his arms around me and we drifted off to sleep.

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                                               For The Love Of The Med-jai - Chapters 23 - 30